The Map Room of the Last Islands, 2015
the Barn, Banchory, Scotland
Curated by Lorraine Grant, Mark Hope and Anne Douglas
This major exhibition of previously unseen work is a powerful, and visually beautiful, illustration of the ways in which artist John Newling explores the relationships between the natural world and systems of value within society.
Since 2009, Newling has been creating art works that are constructed, primarily, through the growing, observing and preserving of Moringa Oleifera trees. Often referred to as the Miracle Tree or Famine Tree, gram for gram, the Moringa leaves contain: seven times the vitamin C in oranges, four times the calcium in milk, four times the vitamin A in carrots, two times the protein in milk and three times the potassium in bananas. It is for this and other extraordinary properties of this tree that it has been referred to as the world’s most generous tree.
The paintings are maps of a kind, into and through which Newling explores his relationship to the trees and to wider ecology. They are a truly beautiful cartography of language, colour and shape; islands that Newling hopes may never be lost.
21st Century Eden, 2014 PH1, York
The Generosity Plates, 2014 Wellcome Collection, London
Ecologies of Value, 2013 Nottingham Contemporary
Lungs, 2012 The 2nd Sokolowsko Festival of Ephemeral Art, Sokolowsko
Miracle trees (Moringa Oleifera), 2011 Nottingham Contemporary
Synthia II (code/soil/life), 2010 Lancaster University
The Lemon Tree, 2010 The Collection, Lincoln
Make a Piano in Spain, 2008 Wellcome Collection, London
Out Loud, 2008 Wellcome Collection, London
Feasibility study ‘Prospects and Interiors: Sculptors drawings of inner space’ exhibition, 2008 Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Happiness is not a Right, 2005 West Cork Art Centre, Skibbereen, County Cork
Mine, 2005 The Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, USA
Currency and Belief – A Retrospective, 2002–2003 Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Sleight of Hand, 2002 Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Through the Surface, 2002 BWA gallery, Lublin, Poland
Bread Matters, 2000 BWA gallery, Lublin, Poland
Ices, Box, 2000 Angel Row Gallery
Weight, 1998 Turnpike Gallery, Leigh
Crossing, 1998 The Economist Plaza, London
Ices, 1998 Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
Sacred and The Mundane – Mid Career Retrospective, 1995 Cornerhouse, Manchester
Exchange, 1995 Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Artists’ Work Programme Residency, 1995 Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
John Newling, 1994 Annya Von Gosseln Gallery, Dublin
New Work, 1994 Printed Matter Gallery, New York
Archive Works, 1992–1993 Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Lost, 1991 The Bonington Gallery, Nottingham
New Architecture, 1991 Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
Filters, 1990 The Henry Moore Studio, Dean Clough, Halifax
Shelter / Filter, 1990 Leeds City Art Gallery
Documents from the Filter series, 1990 Leeds City Art Gallery
John Newling, 1990 Artsite Gallery, Bath
New Sculpture, 1990 Edward Totah Gallery, London
Heaters and Sieves, 1989 Feeringbury Manor, Colchester
John Newling, 1989 Orchard Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland
John Newling, 1988 The Minories, Colchester
John Newling, 1988 California State University, Los Angeles
Inside Outside, 1988 Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery
John Newling, 1988 Ashkenazy Collection, Los Angeles
John Newling, 1988 Krefelder, Kunstverein, Krefeld, Germany British representative in the Krefeld International
John Newling, 1988 Edward Totah Gallery, London
John Newling – Recent Sculpture, 1988 Dean Clough, Halifax
State and Church, 1984 Midland Group, Nottingham
John Newling, 1983 Ian Birkstead, Basle Art Fair, Basle
John Newling, 1982 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Seven Trestles, 1980 Midland Group, Nottingham
